Mayborn Museum Science Night

On October 20 ,2016, more than 300 students and parents from Brook Ave Elementary School and West Ave Elementary School visited the Mayborn Museum Complex to participate in a free Science Night. During Science Night, families, students and school faculty experienced all the exhibits the Mayborn Museum offers with a unique twist–displayed throughout the museum were TEKS aligned activities. This type of event strives to bring together what students learn in the classroom into another setting, while also bringing in a family engagement aspect.

West Ave and Brook Ave elementary schools were chosen after Prosper Waco staff looked at the STAAR data and identified those campuses as struggling with the science component. Beyond test scores, teacher and administrators from the campuses are consistently looking for opportunities to increase parent-student engagement in the schools.

“The Family Science Night was the first of its kind in Waco,” Mayborn education facilitator Anna McKay said. “Science is one of the main subject areas at these particular schools where students are not scoring and meeting those expectations. If we can spark that learning through the activity in the room, then hopefully they can meet those test scores.”

Moving forward, the museum is wanting to expand Science Night to other Waco ISD campuses and other local districts.